1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to the field of networks, in particular, an extensible switching fabric framework for encapsulation of a protocol.
2. Description of the Related Art
Switch fabric networks are generally known to one skilled in the art. An example of one is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/152,656 filed May 21, 2002 which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
In a computer system, the interconnection architecture of various components greatly affect the speed and cost of the system. The PCI standard (i.e., “Peripheral Component Interconnect”), was originally developed as a way to connect different peripherals to a computer.
Yet another architecture is PCI Express which is a serial interconnect architecture. PCI Express is also used in a switch fabric network architecture. The PCI Express standard retains the PCI usage and software interfaces thereby providing the ability to be compatible with legacy computers (such as a personal computer, “PC”) hardware and software infrastructure. However, this limits the potential of the standard because of constraints from PC architectures retained from the 1980s. Accordingly, there is a need to address the limitations of the PCI Express standard and to provide a way to improve the flexibility and expandability of the PCI Express standard.